Rhonda Lesha Hairston, 39, was found dead at her home on Garrett Road in Ridgeway, Virginia, on Saturday, October 18, 2025. Deputies from the Henry County Sheriff’s Office located her deceased in a bedroom during a welfare check called by one of her sons; investigators determined she died of a gunshot wound and ruled the death a homicide.

Family remembered Hairston as a devoted mother of two sons, Omartae Gravely and Xavien Hairston, a Magna Vista High School graduate studying to become a nurse, and an active choir member at Antioch Christian Church. Reports say she had decided to leave her estranged husband about a week before she was killed.

Investigators named 40-year-old Joseph Chad Lockett as the primary suspect and called him armed and dangerous. He was located at a Martinsville residence on Nibblett Drive after a brief standoff and surrendered; he was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a violent convicted felon.

If anyone knew Rhonda, her routines, or has information about what happened that weekend, please share what can help the ongoing investigation.